


Tale as Old as Time

by Joeleneb26



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Beauty and the Beast, F/M, Gen, True Love, True Love's Kiss, the dark one - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 17:38:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4488618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joeleneb26/pseuds/Joeleneb26
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This picks up at the moment Season 4B ended and it is what I hope to see for Belle and Rumpelstiltskin. It is only the first part or chapter, I hope to write more, but it is the first time I have ever written a fanfiction, so comments are more than welcome. I hope you enjoy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tale as Old as Time

She sat by his side as the sound of footsteps died away outside. Any chaos that existed beyond the walls of the shop did not matter to her at the moment. She simply didn’t care what was happening to anyone, but the person who lay quietly before her. The others, the heroes, had helped move him from the cold wood floor where he had collapsed two hours before, to the small bed in the back of his office. She now sat beside him, holding his hand and thinking of the many nights she had slept on that bed, alone, and heartbroken. The truth was that this shop, his shop, had become her home.

               He had been gone for weeks, and yet, she needed to stay close to him in some way. She realized now as she sat by his still body, that the shop was him, it had always been him, the smell of it, the dark woods and varnish, the trinkets and antiquities that represented so much of who he was. It was the closest thing she had left of him after making him leave, and that was why she had stayed. She had regretted making him leave the moment he crossed the line, and while he sat on the other side, begging softly to her for forgiveness, she had fallen on her knees as well. On the other side, the safe side, she had cried that she wanted to forgive him, but didn’t know how. Eventually, drained and alone, he had limped away. Many hours after his figure had disappeared in the distance of the dark road, she had also walked away, to the shop, where she had remained.

            Waiting. It seemed she had always been waiting for him. Waiting for him to accept that he was more than he believed himself to be, the man she knew he was. They had lost each other so many times, but somehow, he had always come back, struggled to come back. She had held on to that thought after she had banished him, like a blanket to cover her at night, that he had always come back, and he would again. She knew that outside of the town, he was beyond the reach of the dagger; she had attempted to summon him back across the line in a futile attempt to right her mistake. She had slowly lost any hope that she could find a way to bring him back, but she knew that if anyone could figure out how to get back into the town, it would be him. She knew he would try to find a way. She had watched him that night; wrap his tie around a tree, holding on to it with a look of wistful determination, before slowly turning to walk away into the unknown. She knew it was a marker to find his way back. So she dropped her own breadcrumbs for him where she could, in the form of emails that she widely distributed requesting assistance deciphering an ancient transcript. She knew he would be looking for magic, any magic, to assist him; and she knew that he had the knowledge to make any adjustments necessary to the spell to achieve his goal. Of course, there was always risk where he was concerned, and she knew that there was a chance that he would come back vengeful, but she didn’t care. She had acted on impulse when she banished him, ignored his pleads to let him explain because she had been so hurt and her pride injured at being what she perceived as his pawn. Waiting for his return, she hoped that unlike her, he would at least let her attempt to explain her actions.

            She had been secretly ecstatic when she was told that he was back, but surprised that he had not contacted her. Then to learn that he had manipulated her to get the dagger, that was sort of an awakening for her, and in her mind swirled all the mistakes and wrongs that they had done to each other. Of course, he would not come back to her, how could he? She had abandoned him as he always knew she would, but he didn’t resent her for it. He had proven that when he came back to give her the heart that Regina had stolen. Again, he walked away, like he had always done, because he truly believed she was better off with another man, a better man. His happy ending was to be that man, the one that deserved a family and love. The Author may have written it, but it was what Rumple had wanted most, to be a hero, a savior, anything but a coward. The irony was that he had been a hero to her, to his son, to the town. He sacrificed himself for them all and yet continued to make the wrong decisions that would eventually cost him everything.

             When they had returned to the town and everything had been put right, she rushed to the shop to tell him that there was no need to hurt anyone else, to ask him to stop and plead to him to realize that they had hurt each other enough, but she found him lying on the floor of his shop, and she realized that she was about to lose him again. She wouldn’t let him die alone, believing that she loved another, and that he had never deserved her.

            “Who could ever love me?” he had asked her with such desperate sadness. Her mind repeated that phrase over and over as she sat by him now, holding his hand. She raised it to her lips, kissed it softly, then turned it palm upward and placed her cheek in it. “I could” she whispered. Tears began to flow as she placed his hand back down and moved her own to sweep a greying strand of hair from his forehead. Her hand continued down to cup his face for a moment, before finally resting on chest. His heart beat faintly and irregular, it scared her. So many nights she had laid her head on his chest and listened to the strength that his heart had possessed, it had been her favorite position on nights that she couldn’t sleep. She would wake and roll over to lay her head on his heart, and always, instinctually, his opposite hand would come up and rest on her shoulder, never waking, he cradled her. He made her safe. She thought about that now, and all the other little things about him that made him so special to her.

           All his idiosyncrasies, that no one else in the world knew, but her. Like the fact that he brought her flowers, every night of their marriage, and for no reason other than he knew she loved to put them all over the house. She had done it in his castle years before, and he never forgot. Or that he couldn’t stand drinking cold milk, after 300 years of room temperatures; he thought it odd to drink it cold. He clung to some of the old traditions while embracing new inventions. He liked computers and telephones, as a means of communication, but hated television. He detested bright electric lights and even though he appreciated the convenience of them, he always kept his shop and home somewhat dim, like his castle had been. They had that in common though; she preferred it that way too. She thought firelight was always better and they would rather spend an evening reading together, than out at the movie theater. She would sit in the chair opposite of him for hours and listen to him read to her, or vice versa. They would take walks together, arm in arm, like a couple who had gotten the opportunity to grow old together. He liked to walk on nights when the moon was at its brightest. She cherished those times, when they were happy, in this town, married, and completely unobservant to the darkness that was otherwise always hovering over them, waiting to dive in and tear then apart.

          The darkness had always been there though, from the moment she met him. In the forest, it not only had an effect on his soul, but his appearance as well, so there was never any doubt that he was a villain to all who came across him. At least that is what he believed, until she came. He never realized that to her he was the hero who saved her kingdom. He had rescued her family and friends from certain death, and she never forgot what that meant, even though she had given up her freedom for it in return. She knew what she was giving up, but what she was gaining far outweighed what she had lost. Her kingdom was safe, and she had successfully escaped a dull, dreary life married to the town peacock. Although Gaston was handsome, he had never been her match in wits and that is what Belle craved the most, intellect. She enjoyed discussing books, distant places, and legendary adventures. She dreamed of more than her small provincial life, but that dream seemed unattainable, until the day that she turned to see him sitting on her father’s throne. The moment she saw him, she knew he was unlike anyone she had ever met before and he seemed the epitome of mystery. When he suggested that his price for saving the kingdom was her, her heart leapt, in both fear and excitement. New! Here was a chance for something new and infinitely more interesting than her current existence. “It’s forever, Dearie.” He had said to her, daring her to change her mind, but she had held fast to her commitment, and with his arm supporting her, she walked out of her old life and into a new one.

          And what a life it was… She hadn’t really known what to expect when she left with him on that dark night. One thing was certain; she never imagined that over time she would learn to love him. And that eventually he would become the greatest love of her life. Her One True Love. That she would be the one to show him what love could be, and break down the walls he had built around himself. That somehow, she would uncover the man behind the monster.

          She spent a little over a year in his castle, and in that time, she learned more about him than anyone else had in 300 years. Like the fact that he didn’t spin gold because he needed the wealth, but rather, it was a form of comfort to him, it kept the beast at bay. He would spin in the main hall for days on end and then not again for weeks, until suddenly, she would find him again, spinning furiously. It took the better part her time in the castle to get him out of his shell, but he finally began speaking to her as one would to a friend. He began opening up to her and she to him. As they grew more and more accustomed to each other’s company, she began to see past his villainous façade and saw only the man. A man who was so used to being misunderstood that he had spent a lifetime pushing everyone away. She felt grateful that he had allowed her to glimpse this side of him, the private side, and he seemed grateful that she was tenacious enough to get past his walls.

          She had grown to love him completely, but when she had tried to test that love with True Loves Kiss, he had become furious. He couldn’t believe that she wasn’t part of the Queens plan to destroy his power and he truly believed that she could never love him. So he threw her out of the castle and she left feeling like a fool. Soon afterward, she was captured by the queen and kept prisoner until the curse broke, meanwhile he believed her to be dead.

          Torn apart and kept apart, that had been their story for so long. She was tired of it. She wanted to let the past finally rest. When the curse broke and they found each other again, she was hopeful that finally they could be together, but there had been so much more to him that she had not known, his need for magic, the dagger, his cultivating the curse in its entirety just so he could find his son. All these things were hurdles for them, and finally, she had left him too. Just when he needed her the most, after his enslavement to the witch and the death of his son, she had pushed him away.

“I’m so sorry Rumple”, she said now and she gazed at his ashen face. He was so still and his breathing so shallow, she was afraid to look away, in fear that it would stop all together. If only he would wake up. She had so much to tell him. How sorry she was for everything and how much she needed him, had always needed him.

Just then she heard the bell from the door ring as the heroes rushed in. David, Mary Margaret, Regina and Killian all entered the back room with looks of frantic despair.

“What happened?” Belle asked standing up and between Rumple and them.

“Is he awake?” David asked

“No, not yet” Belle replied sadly “The apprentice said that he might not ever wake up”

“Well we can’t wait forever, can we? We need to wake him up somehow”, Killian spat as he tried to get past Belle to where Rumple lay, but she stepped between them.

“No, leave him alone! What is going on? Anything that has happened is not his fault; he’s been here the whole time!”

Mary Margaret put up her hand to keep Killian back, “We know, but Emma took the Darkness that came out of him into her and now she is gone.” She held up the dagger, the name _Emma Swan_ engraved on the blade. “She is the new Dark One and he is the only one who knows anything about how to control it or what it will do to her. So please, Belle, if you can just let us know as soon as he is awake, we need to know” She pleaded.

“Of course, I will let you know, but if he can’t help you, please, don’t push him” She said with her eyes on Killian. “I don’t know what state of mind he will be in and he may not want to help, you’re not exactly his favorite people.”

“Well, it’s not easy getting Rumplestilskin to do anything he doesn’t want to do, so let’s hope it doesn’t come to that” Regina spoke up “For now, let’s just focus on finding Emma”.

“Right” David nodded his head and put his hand on Mary Margaret leading her towards the door. “Belle, please let us know if there is any change”

“I will” Belle said as she turned to take her seat again by Rumples side. Killian reached down and put his hand on her shoulder.

“For what it’s worth, I am sorry for what you are going through”. He said. She clasped his hand. “I know, thank you. Let’s just hope he wakes up soon.” She smiled sadly as she watched them walk out of the shop to look for Emma.

“Do you remember”, she said as she looked back to Rumple on the bed, “I once told you that when you find something worth fighting for, you never give up? I believed that when I said it, I really did.” She took his hand again. “But I lied to you and myself. I did give up, on you and on me, and I let the Darkness take you away from me. Killian is out there now, trying to fight for Emma, to save her from the Darkness. He is trying to do what I should have done, but I failed you, I just let you go”

            She put her head down on his chest. “I know you think that you are not good enough for me, but you are, I know you are, there has never been anyone else for me, but you, and I am flawed too” she said, sitting up and looking into his face. “Not just you, but me too, and I’ve made so many mistakes, if you can only forgive me. I know that I can forgive you, I do forgive you” She put her hands on his face and leaned forward whispering, “Please Rumple, I need you to know how much I love you, and how sorry I am, please…wake up” She sobbed “Please” and she leaned forward to touch her lips to his. As their lips touched, memories and sensations flooded her mind, his laughter and smile, his quick wit and confidence, the smell of autumn and leather, spiced with oils, his touch and softness of his hair. The love she felt overwhelmed her and it seemed as though everything she felt for him, had ever felt for him, was flowing from her, into him, warming his lips and adding color to his cheeks where moments ago there had been none. She gasped and sat up at the same moment that he opened his eyes. “Rumple?” she cried as she grasped his hand. He took in a long breath and focused his brown eyes on her. “Belle?” he said softly. “You’re here? You came back for me? Why?”

She smiled through her tears, “Because I love you Rumple, I always have” she put her head back down on his chest and hugged him tightly as his arm reached up to touch her hair.

“Yes,” He sighed “And I love you too”


End file.
